Bleed Out

Since you opted to go out on a date with Michelle instead of manning up and helping your cousin defend himself against some hooligans, the game will give you a chance at some redemption here. Drive around a bit after you drop Roman off until you receive a phone call from him. The Albanians have found him again and are roughing him up on a basketball court nearby. After receiving the call and the call ending, you'll get some direction from the GPS, so follow the directions until you arrive at your destination.

Your destination in the car and the destination itself are two different things, however. Roman is being roughed up on the basketball court, so you'll need to get out of your car and run to his rescue (simply go forward from where his car is parked, then swing right along the chainlink fence and to the court). It's here that a brief cutscene will ensue. The Albanians are clearly a little scared of you and try to reason with you. Naturally, you'll break some skulls regardless.

This will be your first chance to fight with your fists, and the fighting system and lock-on system here is much more refined than in previous Grand Theft Auto games. Be sure to follow the on-screen prompts as they come to be sure to lock on to an enemy. Then, punch away, dodging any enemy swings. Both of the Albanians are relative pushovers. It's their knife-wielding friend on the other side of the fence that you'll really want to get your hands on, though.

The knife-wielder, Dardan, will run off and find a car of his own to speed away in. You'll have to give chase. Run off the court and back around towards your car. Hop in, and Dardan's location will be seen on the HUD immediately thereafter as a red dot. And from here, the chase begins.

Keeping up with Dardan is important, but don't stress too much. The only way you can fail this mission is to fall ridiculously far behind, or if you total Roman's car. Otherwise, simply staying with the red dot as it travels around the HUD is all you have to worry about. You won't have a GPS to help you here, but you won't need it. Think about techniques you used in previous GTA titles -- gravitating towards the icon on your HUD will get you where you need to go, it just might not be efficient. It's a fact that sticking on Delaware Avenue will get you to your location quickly, however.

You'll arrive at a harborside warehouse, and Dardan's car is abandoned. Follow the on-screen prompt, which tells you to pursue Dardan up the various staircases to the top floor of the nearby warehouse. Here, you'll have to do battle with Dardan. Dardan is armed, so you need to be careful. Getting slashed with a knife hurts a lot more than getting punched by one of his friends. Regardless, you should get enough punches in easily that he will begin to stagger and fall. He'll get up a couple of times, but once he takes a fall, he ceases being a threat. And hey, if you're especially brutal, try punching out the windows at the side of the warehouse and pushing Dardan to his death. Hey -- just a thought.

With Dardan eliminated, you can run back to Roman's car. The GPS will again work, and it will bring you back to the taxi depot. Drop Roman off there as you've done several times now, and the mission will come to an end. And like that, the first batch of missions that seemed to run directly into each other is now over for the time being. What takes over from here is a more traditional mission-by-mission feel that GTA veterans will be most familiar with.